Sitka Sound Seafoods won the bid to harvest chum salmon at Crawfish Inlet. SSS plans to exercise their option to harvest there, perhaps as early as August 17 or 18. The Crawfish Inlet program was started in 2016 and expecting a modest show of three-year-olds this year. However, the proportion of 3s is quite strong with 22% 3s in the troll catch, and of these, more than half are from the Crawfish release. NSRAA is required to keep the terminal area mopped up of chum to reduce straying. Trollers have priority in Crawfish Inlet, but NSRAA is...

Deep Inlet will close at 11:59 p.m. on August 19th for cost recovery harvest. We will harvest approximately 200,000 chum salmon or 1.6 million pounds (the ADF&G announcement was incorrect). We expect the closure to last about ten days. August 20 & 21 will be common property seine days with no harvest in Deep Inlet expected. Cost recovery harvest will begin on August 22 after three build-up days that will closely coincide with the peak of the Deep Inlet run. The Special Harvest Area (SHA) for cost recovery harvest includes the waters...

We will announce a Deep Inlet closure date next Tuesday August 15th. It is likely we will close August 19th after the troll opening. We expect to see a major shift in the chum run over the weekend as a low pressure system enters SE Alaska. The gillnet fleet has already noticed a change in chum numbers entering Deep Inlet. The 50 boat troll fleet saw a significant movement of chum from the Biorka to St. Larzaria line on Wednesday to a line from Vitskari Rocks to Povorotni Point today. The troll harvest rate has been running about 12,000...

Deep Inlet fall run is beginning to heat up for the troll fleet, but the fish have stalled in Sitka Sound due to the sunny, still weather. The latest sex ratio is 72% male in a troll sample with 22% of the sample being 3-year-old fish. This is unusual to see this many threes this early in the run and could mean a very large bell curve for the threes. A small component of those 3’s were Crawfish Inlet bound chum. The big question we are evaluating is when to have the closure for cost recovery. Our goal is to close Deep Inlet at or during...

Currently we have 25,000 chum collected for broodstock behind the barrier in Kasnyku Bay. The Hidden Falls staff took the first 4 million eggs yesterday and continue to pass chum through the barrier net daily. Observations by spotter pilots, fishing boats, and our drone show good numbers of chum in Kasnyku and around Round Island to Pt. Turbot, although the fish move around constantly. Chum have been observed in Takatz as well. Given that the 175,000 chum still needed for broodstock have not been secured and they are moving in and out of...

Two independent spotter pilots estimated 100,000 chum at Hidden Falls on July 7 & July 8. Large schools were reported in Kasnyku Bay, Round Island, Waterfall to Pt Turbot, and in Takatz Bay. In order to get a better understanding of run timing and run strength cost recovery will be conducted outside of Kasnyku Bay on Monday or Tuesday. Samples will be taken to establish age structure, average weight, and sex ratio. Results will be used to determine the next step for management of Hidden Falls. Hidden Falls needs 200,000 fish for...

The fishing season is off to a mixed start and there is sufficient information to predict what is likely to unfold for the Hidden Falls and early run Deep Inlet chum programs. First Hidden Falls: the first two openings were disappointing but not unexpected. The return to date is about 10,000 chum through June 25th, which is similar to last year and worse than 2015. Therefore, Hidden Falls will not open for the foreseeable future. We will concentrate on broodstock – we need approximately 220,000 adults to fully satisfy our programs at...

A reminder to students that the NSRAA’s 2017 Scholarship application deadline is approaching. Applications must be received at the NSRAA office by 5 pm AKDT on April 17, 2017. Scholarship Info: The NSRAA board established the scholarship program at their March 2001 meeting. In March 2011, the NSRAA board added a third scholarship, specifically for two-year degrees, including most vocational / technical programs. Three $2500 scholarships are available annually. Those eligible to apply are those who hold a current State of Alaska salmon...

NSRAA has finalized 2017 Schedules for Deep Inlet and Hidden Falls chum fisheries. Remember that these schedules are for planning purposes and that ADF&G News releases are the official schedules. The schedules and plans can be viewed on NSRAA’s Homepage, or on the FrontPage.